Rep. Jim Jordan Blasts Red Flag Laws - They Attack a 'Fundamental and Sacred Principle' of America

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, speaks next to Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., left, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-North Carolina, and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., during a news conference with House members, where they called for a second prosecutor to investigate the Dept. of Justice and FBI, Tuesday, May 22, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, speaks next to Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., left, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-North Carolina, and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., during a news conference with House members, where they called for a second prosecutor to investigate the Dept. of Justice and FBI, Tuesday, May 22, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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On Tuesday, during a hearing on a “red flag” law, Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan sounded off.

The House was debating multiple gun control bills, including H.R. 1236 — the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019.

Under the law, certain people would be able to petition a court to impede an American’s 2nd Amendment rights:

[In response to the petition, a court may prohibit] a named individual from having under the custody or control of the individual, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm…[or] having a firearm removed or requiring the surrender of firearms from a named individual.

Despite support from some Republicans, the concept of red flag laws is — it may be said — averse to constitutional liberty and due process.

Subsequently, Jim blasted the legislation, which he insisted would put the kibosh on “innocent until proven guilty.”

The congressman also pointed out the bill’s alarming designation of those granted the ability to petition a court.

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Here’s part of what he had to say:

If the House Judiciary passes this bill today, we will have changed a fundamental and sacred principle in this country. In America, you are innocent until proven guilty until today. If we pass this bill today, we are going to invert the standard and say, “you are guilty until proven innocent, and you will be guilty without doing anything wrong.” Under this bill, you are guilty without doing anything wrong simply because someone thinks you might do something wrong – and who is this someone under this bill who can petition the court to take away your Second Amendment liberties? Who is this someone defined under this bill? Page 13, amendment … it says “family or household member.” Go down to subsection D. Who’s a household member? “An individual who resides or who has resided with the respondent during the past year.” A roommate who hung out with you for one month last year can go petition a court to take away your Second Amendment liberties. Some roommate maybe didn’t like you, thought you were a slob, whatever, can go petition the court to take away your fundamental right without you doing anything wrong – and oh, guess what? When they go in the court to take away your fundamental liberty even though you haven’t done anything, committed no crime, guess what? You don’t even get to be there; you don’t even get to defend yourself.

We all want to stop gun violence. We all know these terrible evil things that happen are just that, terrible and evil, but trying to do something that this bill seeks to do in this manner is so fundamentally wrong, and again, for the Judiciary Committee in the United States House of Representatives, who is charged more than any other committee in this body with defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, to pass this, it’s just wrong.

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Solid points.

As reported by The Daily Wire, H.R. 1236 has only two Republican sponsors — Christopher Smith of New Jersey and Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick and

No matter, Trump hasn’t said he’ll sign any of the current gun control legislation.

Speaking to CBS News, Mitch McConnell called all the current batch of anti-gun proposals sheer “theatrics”:

“We are working on coming up with a proposal that the president will sign. Until that happens, all of this is theatrics.”

Still, if they’ve proposed it once, they can do it again. And the next president — in partnership with a future congress — may be ready to put ink to paper.

-ALEX

 

See 3 more pieces from me:

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Find all my RedState work here.

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